FTC orders nine companies, from Delta to Walmart, to report whether personal data shapes prices and pay

The Federal Trade Commission on October 28 ordered nine companies to explain whether and how they use personal data to set the prices consumers pay and, for app-based work, the pay workers are offered. The orders went to Delta, United, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart, according to the agency's announcement. Each company has 45 days from receiving its order to respond.

The orders were issued under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which lets the commission run wide-ranging studies that, in the agency's words, "do not have a specific law enforcement purpose." The announcement does not allege that any of the nine has broken the law. A company that fails to answer can be taken to federal court to compel compliance. The vote was 2-0; Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson and Commissioner Mark R. Meador are the two commissioners named on the order.

Consumers deserve to know whether companies use their web surfing habits or other personal data to estimate the highest price they can charge each consumer.

What the companies must disclose

The model order asks each company to describe in detail every method it has used that relies on personal information to set or adjust prices, to decide which workers are offered which jobs, and to set workers' pay, from January 1, 2023, onward. The order says the answers will help the commission study how firms use personal data to set different prices for particular consumers or different pay for particular workers. Companies must also describe the extent to which they disclose these practices, with the exact wording, where it appears and when it was shown, and describe the costs and benefits, including any increase or decrease in the prices consumers pay. Studies and A/B tests proposed or completed since January 1, 2021, are covered too.

The order's definition of personal information is broad. It covers names, addresses and ZIP codes, location, the devices a person uses, purchases and browsing history, income or wealth, family and pregnancy status, reactions to prices offered, and a person's "willingness to pay for a product or service," as well as anything inferred from such data.

For workers, the FTC said ride-sharing and food-delivery companies "may pay their workers shifting compensation offers based on opaque formulas," possibly drawing on data such as phone usage or acceptance of past offers. By contrast, it said, airline employees typically earn a transparent salary or a fixed hourly wage.

A second study, aimed at different companies

The FTC's first study, begun in July 2024 under then-Chair Lina M. Khan, went to firms that offer pricing tools to other businesses. Interim findings released in January 2025 said details such as a person's precise location or browser history "can be frequently used" to target individuals with different prices, and that the firms studied worked with at least 250 clients. Khan said at the time: "Initial staff findings show that retailers frequently use people's personal information to set targeted, tailored prices." Ferguson and then-Commissioner Melissa Holyoak had voted for the 2024 orders but dissented from releasing those findings.

The current commission says that approach fell short. Its announcement says the 2024 study "examined only middlemen consultancies rather than the businesses that actually set prices," that the agency "learned nothing about actual pricing decisions" from it, and that the new study "corrects the Commission's mistaken 2024 approach" by asking the companies directly.

What it means for you

In August the commission put out for comment a draft policy statement on personalized pricing. Ferguson said then that the FTC cannot legally ban the practice in every case, but that a business that does not tell consumers how it uses their personal data to set a price may be breaking the FTC Act. According to the agency's announcement, the draft also suggests that shoppers who know about the practice could sidestep it, for example by browsing privately, using a virtual private network or shopping elsewhere.

The FTC says it releases information from 6(b) studies only once it has been aggregated or anonymized to protect companies' trade secrets. Consumers who believe a business misled them about prices can report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.